Arsenal Searching...

Arsenal’s search for a striker continues. The Gunners have been linked with plethora from across Europe; Benzema, Mandzukic, Jackson Martinez, Costa and Balotelli to mention just a few. These names excite except for the Italian maverick no thanks to his eccentric way of life but even his own still excite the fans. Like I said earlier, these names excite because they are marquee signings and getting them would require big money and that would force Arsenal to splash the cash. I am not against splashing the cash but for me, it is talent over price or name. Who was Suarez before Liverpool signed him, who was Falcao before Porto landed him from an obscure South American league? Juxtaposing the exploits of those few erstwhile unknown names to that of Torres and Schevchenko who arrived at Chelsea on the back of successful form and costing big money from Liverpool and AC Milan only to flop at Chelsea. To this end, I want to throw up the candidacy of a little known talent Wilifred Bony. He plays for Swansea, in fact he was just signed last summer and before finally joining the Swans, Wenger was rumoured to have been interested in signing him. I don’t know why he didn’t eventually, probably the lure of having Suarez must have pulled wool over the Frenchman’s eyes. Anyway, he has an opportunity to right the wrong by making a concerted attempt to sign Bony this summer. Why am I so excited at Bony? He has proven this season that he has the talent and hunger for the games and his stats aren’t bad after all. Last season, he had in all competitions for both country and club a total 28 goals and 6 assists in just a total of 43 starts and 12 sub appearances. The previous season was even better because he had 37 goals and no assists in just 32 starts and 3 subs. His critics could argue that he did all that in the Dutch league which is far inferior to the Premier League but need I remind the critics that Suarez and Van Nistelrooy came from that same ‘inferior’ league and became a terror in the Premier League. The pros in the favour of signing him aren’t far-fetched. He would cost far-less than any of the marquee strikers. Swansea are reportedly asking for 20million Pounds but I believe a fee of 18million Pounds could convince the Swans to sell. He might even push for a transfer to the Emirates with the lure of Champions League football looming. He also already boasts of Premier League experience. The EPL isn’t so easy and many top strikers have already flopped in England, the most recent been Soldado and Lamela. Bony already understands the Premier League and should hit the ground running at Arsenal should a move sail through. Tactically, he would also be able to adapt to Arsenal’s style. From Wenger’s body language, it seems he is looking for someone who can compete with Giroud as well as complement him. I believe he can do the latter with his pace and versatility. He can play on the wings with his pace, strength and skill, ditto as playing centrally owing to his physical strength. So also can he play as the second striker in a 4-4-2 formation. I know Wenger has been promised a hefty transfer kitty but it would be foolhardy to spurn almost half of it on just one striker that could be a risk and heap undue pressure on the player. The question that can Bony deliver 30 goals could be raised but I believe he can at Arsenal. If he could score 16 EPL goals at Swansea where creativity is limited, how much more at Arsenal where are plethora of creative players who never grow weary in creating goal scoring opportunities for the striker. He is a better finisher than Giroud and if the Frenchman could score 16 league goals last season despite his obvious profligacy in front of goal, Bony would do better. He is also faster than the Frenchman which means Ozil would be happier playing with him.

Breaking News: Boko Haram attack Yobe Killing...

About 14 soldiers, 11 policemen, 10 others killed by Boko Haram on May 27, 2014 at 4:22 pm in News BY NDAHI MARAMA, MAIDUGURI & BALA AJIYA, DAMATURU At least 14 soldiers and 11 policemen including the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, Supritendant Hassan Thlama of Buni Yadi Division and 10 other innocent civilians were Tuesday killed by suspected Boko Haram terrorists in separate attacks in Buni Yadi of Gujba Local Government Areas of Yobe state and Chinene village of Gwoza Local Government Areas of Borno state.... Also in Buni Yadi attack, the palaces of the Emir and the District Head (names withheld), a police station and some military posts were completely destroyed, while many others sustained gunshot wounds, while in Chinene attack, two Churches, shops and residential houses were also set ablaze. Buni Yadi is south and about 55 kilometers away from Damaturu, the Yobe state capital that has witnessed several attacks, particularly the attack on the Federal Government College, Buni Yadi which claimed the lives of over 55 students while sleeping in their dormitories. Chinene village is south east and a border community with Cameroon Republic which is about 130 kilometres drive from Maiduguri, the Borno state capital

Millionaire pastorpruener Oyedepo hits back at critics saying God made him rich

CONTROVERSIAL pastorpruener Bishop David Oyedepo has hit back at critics attacking his flamboyant lifestyle saying he makes no apologies for his church being associated with being rich. Bishop Oyedepo, the founder of Living Faith Church, also known as Winners Chapel, is one of Nigeria's richest men and is estimated by Forbes Magazine to be worth $150m. Among other things, Bishop Oyedepo owns four private jets, is the owner one of the most expensive private universities in the country and his church headquarters has the biggest religious auditorium in the world with a seating capacity in excess of 50,000. Often criticised for emphasis on material wealth, Bishop Oyedepo is not only the wealthiest preacher in Nigeria but is also considered the richest pastorpruener in the world. Apart from owning four private jets, with a fifth recently ordered, he also has buildings all around the world, including London and the US and owns two private universities and a publishing house. Bishop Oyedepo said:"Our church is for all the people who believe that Jesus already paid for them to be rich and those who don’t believe start believing when they see it happen in a lot of people’s lives. We are not ashamed to be called the church of the rich because if they call your family poor, will you be excited? "Even when a family is poor, they hate to be called poor. No man in his right mind enjoys being called poor and nobody truly wants to be poor, although people may pretend." He added that most people in his church started out very poor, but the light of God’s word came on them and they walked out of poverty in grand style into wealth and riches. According to Bishop Oyedepo, his church is not funded by the economy of the world but by the economy of the kingdom of heaven, which has a budget for all of its agenda on earth. Pointing out that among other things, Winners Chapel provides employment for Nigerians, Bishop Oyedepo said that it does this while providing good services. He added that his church uses local people to build its facilities and they also supply social services which are not available in mainstream society. Bishop Oyedepo added: "We’ve been here since 1999 and we have never had power outage or water shortage. The main players are Nigerians, the builders are Nigerians and there is no building here that any foreign expert took part in. "There is no foreign company’s presence here, including the tabernacle. Some of the revered foreign companies here in Nigeria are technicians in Germany and they are all political contractors, not that they have something special to offer." He stressed that he believes in the capability and capacity of Nigerians to do whatever they need to do and the Winners Chapel auditorium, which is 104m wide, is testimony to that. According to Bishop Oyedepo, even one of the reputed foreign construction companies came to his church to take pictures after hearing about the feat. Source: Nigeriawatch -Sat 24 May 2014.

THE HEART OF A MUSLIM

This is an extract from the book- THE HEART OF A MUSLIM - By Dr Tawfik Hamid an Islamic/ Egyptian scholar and Author "I am a Muslim by faith.... a Christian by spirit....a Jew by heart....and above all I am a human being." I was born a Muslim and lived all my life as a follower of Islam. After the barbaric terrorist attacks done by the hands of my fellow Muslims everywhere on this globe, and after the too many violent acts by Islamists in many parts of the world, I feel responsible as a Muslim and as a human being, to speak out and tell the truth to protect the world and Muslims as well from a coming catastrophe and war of civilizations. I have to admit that our current Islamic teaching creates violence and hatred toward Non-Muslims. We Muslims are the ones who need to change. Until now we have accepted polygamy, the beating of women by men, and killing those who convert from Islam to other religions. We have never had a clear and strong stand against the concept of slavery or wars, to spread our religion and to subjugate others to Islam and force them to pay a humiliating tax called Jizia. We ask others to respect our religion while all the time we curse non- Muslims loudly (in Arabic) in our Friday prayers in the Mosques. What message do we convey to our children when we call the Jews "Descendants of the pigs and monkeys".. Is this a message of love and peace, or a message of hate? I have been into churches and synagogues where they were praying for Muslims. While all the time we curse them, and teach our generations to call them infidels, and to hate them. We immediately jump in a 'knee jerk reflex' to defend Prophet Mohammad when someone accuses him of being a pedophile while, at the same time, we are proud with the story in our Islamic books, that he married a young girl seven years old (Aisha) when he was above 50 years old. I am sad to say that many, if not most of us, rejoiced in happiness after September 11th and after many other terror attacks. Muslims denounce these attacks to look good in front of the media, but we condone the Islamic terrorists and sympathise with their cause. Till now our 'reputable' top religious authorities have never issued a Fatwa or religious statement to proclaim Bin Laden as an apostate, while an author, like Rushdie, was declared an apostate who should be killed according to Islamic Shariia law just for writing a book criticizing Islam. Muslims demonstrated to get more religious rights as we did in France to stop the ban on the Hejab (Head Scarf), while we did not demonstrate with such passion and in such numbers against the terrorist murders. It is our absolute silence against the terrorists that gives the energy to these terrorists to continue doing their evil acts. We Muslims need to stop blaming our problems on others or on the Israeli/ Palestinian conflict. As a matter of honesty, Israel is the only light of democracy, civilization, and human rights in the whole Middle East. We kicked out the Jews with no compensation or mercy from most of the Arab countries to make them "Jews-Free countries" while Israel accepted more than a million Arabs to live there, have its nationality, and enjoy their rights as human beings. In Israel, women can not be beaten legally by men, and any person can change his/her belief system with no fear of being killed by the Islamic law of 'Apostasy,' while in our Islamic world people do not enjoy any of these rights. I agree that the 'Palestinians' suffer, but they suffer because of their corrupt leaders and not because of Israel. It is not common to see Arabs who live in Israel leaving to live in the Arab world. On the other hand, we used to see thousands of Palestinians going to work with happiness in Israel, its 'enemy'. If Israel treats Arabs badly as some people claim, surely we would have seen the opposite happening. We Muslims need to admit our problems and face them. Only then we can treat them and start a new era to live in harmony with human mankind. Our religious leaders have to show a clear and very strong stand against polygamy, pedophilia, slavery, killing those who convert from Islam to other religions, beating of women by men, and declaring wars on non-Muslims to spread Islam. Then, and only then, do we have the right to ask others to respect our religion. The time has come to stop our hypocrisy and say it openly: 'We Muslims have to Change'. Tawfik Hamid

jerrywealtholamide's blog: LOVE TIP TODAY

jerrywealtholamide's blog: LOVE TIP TODAY: Wake up in your partner's arms. It is definitively the most soothing and happy feeling in the world